McGhee's men jet out to Spain in bid to heap pressure on Celtic

Apr 9 2008 By Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

MOTHERWELL defender Mark Reynolds flew out to the club’s Spanish training camp this week believing SPL champions Celtic will be “out for blood” when the Fir Parkers return to play them for the second time in seven days.

The 20-year-old was a rock at the back for ‘Well during last Saturday’s superb 1-0 victory at Parkhead which saw them leapfrog Dundee United into third spot in the SPL.

And with Celtic on the horizon once again, Reynolds believes it will be even more difficult against the champions despite the fact his side will be enjoying home advantage for Sunday’s crucial fixture.

He said: “It is always hard playing against Celtic especially when you have just gone to their home park and taken three points off them. They are going to be out for blood and they are going to want a bit of revenge and show that was a one-off. So we need to go away and gather ourselves and look forward to the game.”

The Scotland under-21 stopper joined his teammates at Glasgow Airport less than 24 hours after Saturday’s game as the squad jetted off to Malaga for their warm weather training camp in preparation for a run-in that will determine whether Motherwell can go from relegation candidates to European participants in the space of one season.

Before flying to Spain, Reynolds told the Wishaw Press: “It is always nice to get a change of scenery and a bit of sun always adds to it. But the gaffer has made it clear that it will be a working holiday and we won’t be going over there to put our feet up. We’ll enjoy the good training facilities and we will collect ourselves, work hard and look at the negatives from the Celtic game out in Spain because there were negatives from the game that we can build on for next week.”

Boss Mark McGhee joked before last weekend’s match against Celtic that the players could play golf every day if they won. But Reynolds said he would only be packing his swimming shorts as he is not a big golf fan.

After a dip in form that saw the club go on a five-game winless streak, Motherwell have come back strongly with two impressive victories. And Reynolds was delighted to silence some critics saying: “Before we beat Hibs people were beginning to write us off for third place and saying that we blew up and we had put our charge together too early. But we have just put two wins together against two contenders for things and to take three points off both Hibs and Celtic is absolutely fantastic for us. Now we have to take every game as it comes and hopefully win more games than the rest of them.”

The Motherwell-born defender put the ropey form down to the poor preparation and training facilities that will make their trip to Spain all the more vital. He said: “I think when we went through our dodgy patch we were not getting a chance to train and put a run of games together. We would play one and then we would be off for a week. We were not getting a chance to get our second wind. But now we are getting a constant run of games and the weather is looking up.”

Motherwell will be without Bob Malcolm for the return match with Celtic after he was sent off for a nasty challenge on Celtic’s Massimo Donati early in the second half of Saturday’s match and Reynolds feels his loss will be a big blow for the side. He said: “I didn’t see it. I just saw him get the red card. We rallied round well and played better with the ten men than we did with eleven. But when Bob was on I thought he put in a great shift. He will be missed but the boys will rally round.”

Meanwhile the final league fixtures of the season for Motherwell have been announced.

Monday April 28 - Motherwell v Dundee United.

Saturday May 3 - Motherwell v Celtic.

Wednesday May 7 - Rangers v Motherwell.

Saturday May 10 - Motherwell v Aberdeen.

Sunday May 18 - Hibernian v Motherwell.

Dates for outstanding pre-split fixtures against St Mirren and Rangers have yet to be confirmed.